New solar panel info

[Lissa]

Hi,
Has there been any breakthroughs in the past thirty years or so that give fusion a chance to be viable? Other than the sun and weapons, no fusion process that we've tried has generated more than one millionth the energy it took to start it. And in most cases, no energy was generated at all.

Yes, fusion is a great *concept*. It's clean, the fuel is plentiful (even if we have to use deuterium and tritium), the 'waste' product (helium) is almost totally harmless, the enbrittlement problem can (probably) be solved. But the problem is that we have no clue how to set up, ignite, and maintain a fusion reaction. None of the attempts to date have worked, and (AFAIK) there are no new ideas to explore.

So, as nice as fusion can be, it is not a solution for the present nor for the foreseeable future. Thus, research, yes. But don't include it in an energy program. Right now, fusion is a problem, not a solution.

As to your other comments; valid, but each of those forms of energy conversion are established and proven. And each can contribute. Perhaps, one day, we'll run the whole grid on dilithium crystals and mass annihilation. Until then, we need to use all the resources we have, wherever we have them.

--Pete

Several years back the Europeans got just shy of the energy they put in back from a Tokamak (magnetic confinement). So yes, there is a chance for fusion and if the money was put towards it, achieveable easily within our lifetimes (20 to 30 years max if funding was raised, possibly even less).